When Mila Walked the Land
by Mark of the Asphodel
Summary: The marriage of the heiress of the Archanean empire to a prince of Valencia should be a happy occasion. Too bad an invasion of dark creatures spoils the fun. FE2/3 fusion with some special guests from the realm of Magi Varl.
1. The Son of Valencia

**When Mila Walked the Land**

The marriage of the heiress of the Archanean empire to a prince of Valencia should be a happy occasion. Too bad an invasion of dark creatures spoils the fun. FE2/3 fusion with some special guests from the realm of _Magi Varl_.

That's right, this is an FE2/3/8 crossover. If you're already tempted to hit the back button, please give it a chance. This is not the kind of crossover where, say, Marth and Eirika hook up just because it looks cute. Not in the least. Are there OCs? Yes. Unconventional pairings? Yeah, at least one. Total disrespect for canon? Not my intention.

Disclaimer: I do not own _Fire Emblem_ or any of its characters.

* * *

_Chapter One : The Son of Valencia_

_Altea Castle, Year 628_

"You look well in that shade of red. It throws some color into your face."

Lara decided to take her stepmother's comment as a compliment. Knight Commander Catria hardly counted as a leader of fashion, given that she was rarely seen outside of her dress uniform; her input on Lara's wardrobe choices thus served as a counterpoint to the usual court flattery. If Catria said that the dark crimson color suited Lara, then the average Archanean was likely to agree.

Lara gave up fussing with the front of her tunic and pulled on her gloves. They were longer than she normally wore, and to have them come up past her elbows was both strange and bothersome. Lara pushed the irritation out of her mind and fastened her pair of bracelets over the gloves. Though plain in design, and battered with time, the bracelets held deep sentimental value. If her fiance were disparaging about them... well, if he were, nothing at all would happen. The alliance between continents could not fail over some trivial detail. Lara had best hope that her fiance would do nothing of the sort.

As she sorted through her jewelry box, in search of anything else she might need, a new doubt about Lord Rudolf came into Lara's head.

"He was raised by priests. I hope he's not offended by my sword and armor." Lara feared her fiance would be expecting a princess like her own Aunt Elice, who was gentle and elegant and would never equip herself with a sword.

Catria showed a slight, cryptic smile.

"Priests are different in Valencia," she said, and left it at that.

Lara looked herself over a final time. The white pauldrons edged in gilt were perhaps a little too showy, as they were parade armor, not at all suitable for combat. The hilt of her rapier was likewise for show, an ornate swirl of braided metalwork instead of a functional bell-guard. The ruby set into its pommel was one extra splash of red to enliven Lara's coloring.

"I hope this impresses the son of Valencia with the splendor of our empire."

"I hope it doesn't scare the lad off," replied Catria, though she did so with a flash of that enigmatic smile.

XXX

Catria traveled to New Port Colpe on horseback; there was no anticipating how the Valencians might react to her war-dragon. Taking a winged mount would also force distance between herself and the Valencian prince; this way, she might ride beside him and take his measure before even reaching the castle. Catria waited at the docks, surrounded by a crowd that waved and shouted greetings at the approaching ship flying the white banner of the rulers of Valencia, with its violet cross flanked by a "C" and "A" each topped by a crown. Some waved back their own banners and signs, all in Archanean blue. Catria even saw a few flags bearing the old devices of the Altean House of Anri; dynastic pride ran deep in this region, and it made Catria smile in spite of her station. As the ship drew near, Catria searched the decks for any familiar face, and before long she spied a red-haired youth dressed in appropriately regal robes.

"He takes after Cellica. Good," Catria muttered to herself. "I always did find Alm rather odd-looking."

Catria endured the pageantry and ceremony of the docking and the disembarkment until a priest who announced himself as Father Solan finally presented her with guest of honor.

"Lord Rudolf, Duke of Rigel, beloved son of the Holy Kings of Valencia, their Majesties King Alm and Queen Cellica."

Young Rudolf did indeed resemble Queen Cellica, as he'd inherited not just her waving red hair but also her wide eyes and small composed mouth. Catria saw no trace of Alm's confident smile, nor did Rudolf appear to have his father's easy charm. Instead, the boy radiated a sort of serenity that again was reminiscent of Cellica, though perhaps that was a product of his religious education. Regardless, the sight took Catria back two decades; she blinked rapidly several times before speaking to him.

"Welcome, my lord, to the Empire of the Seven Realms. All Archanea welcomes you to our shores."

XXX

Rudolf wished that he'd had the time to take a stroll around the Altean port before they traveled to the castle. After the sea journey they'd endured, he greatly wanted a chance to just walk about on solid land, but instead they all mounted horses as soon as the welcome ceremony ended. At least he could enjoy some truly fresh air for the first time in weeks; a stench of grease and dead fish seemed to hang over the even the highest decks of the ship, and the air below-deck was nearly unbearable by the final days of the voyage.

Behind his shoulder, Rudolf heard his entourage bickering amongst themselves.

"I hope they feed us soon."

"Rekkit! You're not at home any more. You need to behave yourself."

"Aw, Clotilde... I'm just real hungry."

Rekkit managed to be sick five days out of every seven during the voyage, including that very day as they'd come into port. Rudolf couldn't blame his guard for being hungry, though he was relieved when Clotilde's admonishments had the desired effect of keeping Rekkit quiet for a time. Rudolf smiled to himself and looked upward, where a squadron of pegasus knights soared against the deep blue sky. While Archanean pegasus knights were known for their phenomenal discipline, this event was something of a holiday and so some of the riders took their pegasi through beautiful loops and dives, including the breathtaking "Triangle Formation" that was famous even in Valencia. That wasn't all Rudolf found notable; he counted their number and thought there were likely more pegasus riders in that single unit than served in the whole of the Valencian army.

"Good girls," he heard a voice to his left murmur. Rudolf glanced over to see Commander Catria beaming at the pegasus knights; he knew she had played a great role in their development, and must surely be proud to see them displaying all their talents before the Valencian delegation.

Through the rest of their ride, Rudolf's eyes kept straying toward the woman at his side. He'd been warned that the Dragonknight Commander was secretly wedded to the emperor but denied the title of empress. His parents considered the situation more strange than scandalous.

"He has more power than anyone else in the known world. He could make an empress out of her if he wanted to," Rudolf's father had said of the matter. His mother had a slightly different take on it.

"Catria is a knight of the highest level. I'm sure she seeks no greater title than the one she earned through her own skill. To place a crown on her head would be like conferring nobility on a panther."

As he covertly watched Catria, Rudolf saw his mother's point of view; the Commander's bearing and style said she was a knight to the core. It was the same strength and grace he had seen in the great paladin Matilde, or even in General Zeke, the legendary Gold Knight of Rigel.

Once he felt more comfortable about Commander Catria, Rudolf began to take in more of his surroundings. The island of Altea, one in a chain of large islands in the southwest of Archanea, was known for fertile soils and abundant water, and in some parts it reminded him in a vague way of his mother's native land of Sofia. The landscape bore scars of war also similar to those of his home-- here, a forest had been burned, there, a great manor house stood as a bleak ruin. But overall the fields were filled with ripening crops, the rivers ran clear and sparkling, and the people lining the path of the procession all seemed well-clothed and extremely happy. This had been a great land, and would be greater still when reconstruction finally finished.

The castle, too, told the story of war and rebirth; its scarred walls showed that it had been recently rebuilt after heavy damage. But it was whole now, and beautiful; Rudolf noted the delicate ornamental stonework, the small statues and medallions along the facade. The imperial standard-- an azure banner adorned with an argent dragon rampant and a corona of seven stars-- fluttered above Altea Castle. A gust of wind brought the banner out straight, and the dragon shone like silver beacon against the blue. It sent a shudder through Rudolf. The presence of dragons in Archanea was an unpleasant and inescapable fact. The current emperor owed his place to his ability to keep them subdued, but the horror of the last two wars between humans and dragons was legend throughout the known world.

XXX

"Her Imperial Highness, Crown Princess of Archanea, Sovereign Lady of Talys, Daughter of Light, the Jewel of Altea...."

Rudolf's first impression of his future wife consisted of a pair of eyes. Large eyes, vividly blue, rimmed by thick lashes that added to their apparent size and apparent coldness. The eyes were further emphasized by her finely-marked eyebrows, which were a shade or two darker than her hair and slanted down in a manner that was almost fierce. The rest of her face was quite pretty; her nose was small and straight, and her mouth, though small, was nicely shaped. Everything about her, from her smooth unmarked skin to her glossy hair, spoke of vibrant health. All this should have pleased Rudolf, but his attention kept circling back to those strangely cold eyes.

He could not say that no one had warned him.

"She does not sing or play the harp or have the gifts of a Valencian lady," his father's emissary to Archanea had reported. "The princess Lara is in training to be a sword-mistress. She studies military history and tactics, though she also reads religious texts and old epics of war."

The Imperial Crown Princess looked like a maiden trained for war; she wore a deep-red tunic, a finer version of those worn by female soldiers in Archanea. Her hair reached just past her shoulders, and her only jewelry was the plain gold circlet in her hair and a pair of equally plain bracelets. Her real adornment was the slender sword at her belt, and she wore it easily, naturally, as though she did so every day of her life. She wore the sword more easily than she smiled.

The banquet passed as disconnected moments-- more speeches of welcome from the Dragonknight Commander, the Captain of the Altean Temple Knights, the Bishop of Altea, and several others. Rudolf's first exchange of formal greetings with Lara, and then the banquet itself, with each course interrupted by various kinds of entertainment.

"This isn't funny," he heard Rekkit mutter from his place further down the table. "Where's the jugglers?"

The symbolic pageant in between the fish course and the meat course went over Rekkit's head, and Rudolf had to admit he didn't understand it entirely either. But if the entertainment wasn't aimed at Valencian tastes, his hosts had taken care with the food; the feast included many fruits and vegetables native to Valencia. Rudolf appreciated this tribute to his homeland, though he had to admit that some of the foods were not employed quite as they were in Valencia. _Xitomatl_, for one, should be chopped up with peppers and maize, not cooked in a stew. _Chocoatl_ was never mixed with sugar. And Rudolf wasn't entirely sure what the imperial cooks had intended with the dish of _batatas_ and cheese, though he supposed it tasted good enough.

The dinner went on until midnight; Rudolf had to fight back the appearance of drowsiness. To keep himself sharp, he spent a great deal of time watching his fiancee. Princess Lara behaved throughout "with manners grave and beautiful," just as Rudolf had been told to expect-- as though the event were a prayer service rather than a banquet. The one time he saw her really smile, it was in response to an offhand comment by Commander Catria. Rudolf watched the quick flash of Lara's white teeth, and decided she had quite a nice smile. One worth seeing more often.

Of course, they bid farewell at the banquet itself, and Rudolf was escorted to his rooms by his own entourage and a few Archanean guardsmen.

"Well, Rekkit, what do you think?"

"Weird people. Weird food," his guard said as he put aside Rudolf's clothes for the night.

Rudolf should not have laughed, but he was too tired to control himself.

"Get used to the food, Rekkit. We won't be home again for a long, long while."

"I don't know about that, yer highness. I don't think she much likes you."

**End Chapter One**

Author's Notes: So, what on earth is this? Well, it's the Archanean empire twenty years after the end of FE3. The younger son of Alm and Cellica, protagonists of FE2, has come to the empire to marry its heiress, the daughter of Marth and Caeda from FE3/11. How does FE8 come into this? Stay tuned. Oh, yes-- Rudolf's dumdum buddy Rekkit is a homage to Alm's dumdum buddies from FE2. The more serious Clotilde is the daughter of knights Clerbe and Matilde, also from _FE2_. All second-gen characters are non-canon, or in other words I made them up.

Next Up, Chapter Two: Rudolf meets more of his prospective in-laws, and the aforementioned Dark Creatures start coming around.


	2. Dark Creatures

**When Mila Walked the Land**

Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem or any of its characters.

* * *

_Chapter Two: Dark Creatures_

_Pales, Archanea, Year 628_

A squadron of pegasus knights welcomed Rudolf to the castle where he met his future bride; a battalion of _dragon_ knights soared above the palace where he was to meet his bride's father. The sound of leathery wings striking the air in unison induced a real apprehension in Rudolf and his entourage; it was like the sound of a flock of vultures, increased twentyfold. More than that, this display of might at what was merely a _parade_ spoke volumes to Rudolf about the disparity between the two kingdoms in military terms. A fraction of the Archanean forces would be able to overwhelm his homeland.

It underscored the reason that Rudolf was even there, riding into the imperial capital of Pales. But for the possibility that this magnificent force might someday be used against Valencia- if not in this reign, perhaps in the next, or in the generation after that- Rudolf might have been back in the monastery studying under Bishop Noma and Sister Niena. But his parents decided that the gambit that united Sofia and Rigel into one Valencia might use used again... and so Rudolf was here on foreign soil.

It would not do to show the faintest trace of alarm at the power that surrounded him.

-x-

Millennium Court, despite the name, was really only six centuries old; like the royal fortress of Altea, it showed signs of recent heavy damage and reconstruction, but the fabric of the building was breathtaking in design. Part temple, part palace, it was clearly meant to inspire rather than to simply instill fear in the citizens, and its domes and soaring arches drew one's eyes, and thoughts, to the heavens. Its colors- white, sunrise pink, and palest gray- again drew comparisons to the skies. It was a cold look, though, with none of the vibrance of Sofia Palace, the main residence of the Valencian court.

Rudolf had spent all his life in proximity to great power- father's strength, his mother's grace and wisdom, and the profound goodness of Bishop Noma. Rather than taking such gifts for granted, he recognized that the key people in his life were truly exceptional, that no one else living might possibly have played the roles that his mother, father, and teacher fulfilled. So Rudolf understood, on some level at least, what it was do deal with someone who was simply out of the ordinary. And likewise, Rudolf felt he knew, on some level, what to expect from the Hero Emperor, the man chosen by the Archanean gods to save the continent from darkness. That didn't mean he wasn't apprehensive about the meeting.

If the land of Archanea was more vast and splendid than the isle of Valencia, its troubles were likewise more varied and complex. To join two corrupted kingdoms into one just and prosperous land was his parents' triumph, the fruit of many years of dedication. To weld seven lands into one was an order of work that nearly beggared the imagination. Sea-swept Grust, rugged Macedon, fertile Altea, distant windy Talys... these and more, separated from one another by desert, by mountains, and by sea, formed the empire of men and dragons. All of Valencia was not a quarter of the size of the White Dragon Empire- not a sixth!

Rudolf kept all this in mind as he made his approach to the imperial throne. He followed the Imperial Chancellor- a red-haired man who appeared to be in his mid-forties- down a gallery to the canopied dais. Two thrones were upon it; the smaller throne, elaborately decorated with jewels and gilded flowers, sat empty. Flanking the thrones were a pair of treasures that rested upon velvet cushions- a sword and small shield, both encrusted with gems. In the midst of this waited the man known variously as the Prince of Light, the King of All Kings, and the savior of mankind.

Rudolf's own titles sounded comparatively trivial as the Chancellor rattled them off.

"Welcome, Lord Rudolf. I trust you have found Archanea a hospitable land so far."

As Rudolf looked for the first time into the emperor's face he realized with a shock that Princess Lara had inherited those large long-lashed eyes not from her mother, as he had assumed, but from her _father._

"I have tasted nothing but generosity, your Majesty."

"It pleases me to hear that." The emperor's voice was surprisingly soft, though there was little warmth in it.

Rudolf waited, uncertain as to where things might go next; the roof of his mouth felt terribly dry as he took stock of his prospective father-in-law.

It was hard to judge the emperor's height, but Rudolf decided he was about as tall as Rudolf's own father, perhaps a little taller. Marth was almost certainly less broad across the shoulders than Alm, and perhaps looked younger than Alm despite being several years Alm's senior. More than that, while the Holy King of Valencia was known as a cordial and approachable man, the Archanean lord seemed nothing short of severe.

In truth, it gave Rudolf a fair impression of what his fiancee might be in twenty years, when time had narrowed her eyes and thinned her lips.

"Your Majesty, General Zeke sends his regards." Rudolf glanced up quickly to see the emperor's reaction; a faint smile brightened the older man's face.

"I am pleased to know the general is well."

Rudolf wasn't entirely sure how Emperor Marth and the general even knew one another, but he had agreed to take Zeke's message without questioning it. The bonds between Valencia and Archanea were murky and strange, and Rudolf helped this new alliance would being some of these mysteries to light.

He also hoped someone would provide him something to drink, very soon.

-x-

"You got a long road ahead of you with these people, yer highness," said Rekkit as they retired for the night. "That emperor scares the _hell_ outta me, and his daughter looks like more of the same, in a skirt."

"Thanks, Rekkit."

"Seriously, highness. Imagine kissing that hard little mouth of hers..."

"I'd keep those thoughts to myself, Rekkit. There may be spies surrounding these apartments."

Rekkit's level of trust in the Archaneans was low enough that he promptly shut up for the night. The following morning, Rudolf had an invitation to go riding with his fiancee and her father. Rekkit struggled with a series of yawns as he helped Rudolf don riding clothes.

"They get up early here," said the hapless knight. "It's like a whole nation of priests."

"Good thing I studied under priests, then." Rudolf had no problem being up before dawn, but his men- Father Solan excepted- would have some adjustment ahead of them.

The ride gave Rudolf a chance to see the people his fiancee would one day lead. The citizens of Archanea were well-clothed and well fed, and the meanest of them had shoes upon their feet. Their faces were clean, and even the cripples- mostly war-wounded, it seemed- looked flush with health. That made it all the more shocking when they dropped to their knees at the emperor's approach in a manner that suggested not court manners but the obeisance owed to the gods. A richly-dressed man, perhaps a merchant, bowed so deeply that the silver chain on his doublet trailed in the dirt. Others abandoned any pretense of dignity and hurled themselves facedown into the dust. Emperor Marth didn't even glance at these people as they made their gestures of submission before him. Lara scattered coins in their wake, and Rudolf watched as a woman aged fifty or so brought the coin she had caught to her lips and kissed it as though it were some holy relic.

Rudolf kept a check on his anger and dismay for several unpleasant hours, until he at last was alone with his fiancee and a pair of bodyguards

"It's terrible the way people prostrate themselves before your father. Is that required?"

"It's not even sanctioned," replied Lara, her voice a trifle sharp. "It's explicitly discouraged, but no one pays any attention. They do as they please."

"It's appalling," Rudolf said. Perhaps he was pushing things, but he really did need to express his true reaction to what he'd seen that morning. His own mother was revered by the people of Valencia, but there was a difference between reverence and this level of _debasement_ found in Archanea.

Lara's mouth- that hard little mouth so commented upon by Rekkit- grew pale and tight, like a closed seashell.

"They all know that Father has the divine dragons in his debt. When the most powerful beings known depend on a man for their salvation... well, what are people going to think?"

Rudolf bit back on what would have been a stammering torrent about his mother and father and the Dark God and the Earth Goddess and his dead grandfather and how what he witnessed that morning was simply wrong.

"Is Father supposed to have people beaten or imprisoned when they throw themselves before him and call him the Son of Heaven?" She arched her dark brows at him, and whether intended or not, the effect was one of intimidation. Yet, after a moment, her shoulders slumped, and she continued in a softer tone of voice. "Besides, the sort of behavior you witnessed this morning will only make it more difficult for _me_ one day. I'm not the people's savior. I'm not the dragonslayer. I haven't done anything yet. My father was already a legend at the age I am now."

At this, Rudolf could give her a full measure of sympathy. It wasn't lost on him that, at the precise age he now was, his father marched into the darkness and brought down a god.

That evening, he sought advice from Father Solan.

"The people here are not sustained by their faith. The fire gods, the wind spirits- these offer them no consolation, Father. They are so desperate for something deeper to comfort their souls that they have set up a mortal man as their god and they willingly crawl through filth to receive his blessing."

-x-

Rudolf felt somewhat better in the morning, but his entourage had their own doubts about the Archaneans.

"These people are blasted _stiff_," Rekkit complained. "And the girls here don't show any leg."

The second charge was true beyond doubt, but as the days passed, Rudolf saw glimmers of hope on the first count. Commander Catria, his _de facto_ hostess, proved a cordial guide to the Archanean court. She still viewed the court with an outsider's eye- Macedonians, it seemed, were not entirely embraced by the nobles and bishops of the mainland. Then too, Catria had a deep respect for Queen Cellica, and when conversation grew otherwise thin she would supply some anecdote from Lord Doma's War. Rudolf had not heard most of these stories before, and receiving a glimpse of his mother as a girl, of his father as young warrior, helped soothe his own loneliness.

The Archaneans weren't so bad, really, Rudolf decided. The forbidding Chancellor Cain would drop his guard around Catria; in private, even the emperor showed a warmer side, smiled and laughed at jokes... and even told a few. It was not unlike private dinners back home, when Rudolf's parents met up with old comrades and began to speak in fragmentary sentences, the language used by people who truly understood one another.

Yet each time Rudolf began to feel comfortable, some thing jarred him out of that newfound comfort- a slip of the tongue, a bit of miscommunication... or occasionally a deliberate slight. Not that all the disconcerting things even involved him; whenever Rudolf saw Commander Catria kneel before the man she called her husband and thought inevitably of his parents, two people so perfectly matched that it seemed the gods must have created one with the other in mind. If the powers of heaven had truly intended Rudolf to be matched with Lara, Rudolf hadn't seen any sign of it yet.

-x-

Rudolf brought her a number of gifts- a ring that was supposed to preserve health and bring good luck, a fine shield that offered the bearer protection against dark magic, and a sword that was supposed to banish monsters. Lara wasn't sure what kind of monsters the sword was intended for, but it was fine and unique present. Lara also received portraits of Rudolf's parents, which proved an interesting study. King Alm was shown as a vigorous, slightly stocky man in a full suit of armor, while Queen Cellica seemed a lovely woman with sweet expression. Her robes seemed strange to Lara's eyes, though- the Holy Queen displayed a good deal of bare skin. Lara had imagined Cellica as a red-haired version of her own Aunt Elice, but apparently this wasn't the case.

"Are you pleased thus far with Lord Rudolf?"

"Yes, Father. He is gentle and kind, and seems to me a very good man."

"Do you believe you can love him?"

"I... ah..." Lara searched hastily for the right words. "I see no reason why I couldn't."

This did not appear to reassure her father; he continued to regard her solemnly, and so she averted her eyes.

"If, after a year, you don't believe you can love him, the marriage _must_ not take place. Be honest with me when that time comes."

"Father, won't that cause a diplomatic incident with Valencia?"

"Possibly. So would an unhappy marriage." He traced down the edge of the painting of Holy Queen Cellica with one finger. "Your mother and I were so very fortunate. Her father- your grandfather- did all he could to steer us together, thinking it a 'good match,' but your mother needed very little encouragement. And, to speak truthfully, the moment I realized that I could love her, that it was something permitted to me and not set out of reach for the sake of responsibility... it was the first untainted happiness I'd known in years."

He so rarely spoke of her mother that Lara felt a tightness in her throat; she wanted greatly for him to continue, but that that moment, her stepmother barged in.

"Catria..."

Lara heard the affection in her father's voice- and resented it- but the Knight Commander was all business, right down to her crisp salute.

"A messenger has arrived from Thabes. A disturbance at the Tower requires immediate attention."

"Very well, Commander." Father slipped back into his role as Emperor without even blinking. "Tell the messenger I will meet with him shortly."

-x-

"They appeared to be walking corpses. Most attacked with their hands, but one carried a sword. The sword disintegrated when the creature was... slain... so we could not retrieve it."

"Did these creatures speak at all?"

"They made sounds, but didn't seem capable of speech." Piers, the leader of a volunteer watch squadron, sweated profusely as he spoke; the man clearly did not expect to be interrogated by a table that included his sovereign, the chancellor, and a knight commander.

"The walking dead," mused the emperor. "Shades of the accursed city of Thabes, perhaps?"

No one offered an answer, but Piers had more to tell them.

"There was another, stranger creature. It didn't walk upon the ground, but instead floated in the air as a jellyfish does through water." Piers looked slightly pale, as though the memory alone made him sick. "It took the form of a massive eye, trailing a bundle of bloody fibers in its wake. It was capable of _blinking_, Your Majesty."

It sounded like something dreamed up by drunks, and Lara wondered if these guards weren't telling strange tales to cover up some sort of misbehavior. Yet her father kept questioning the guard to draw out more improbable details, and Lara had to admit that Piers responded as though he, at least, believed every word to cross his lips.

"You say 'massive,' but what were the dimensions of this... _eyeball_?"

"The eye was larger than a man's head, Your Majesty. All told, it was more than five feet in length."

Rudolf flinched, and Lara turned in concern to her fiance.

"Biggle," he muttered. Lara had no idea what that meant. Neither, apparently, did her father, who frowned as though Rudolf had uttered some Valencian curse. But Catria's face showed a flash of understanding- understanding, and the relief of an unknown threat resolving into a known one.

"Bigle," she said. "A creature of the Dark God Doma. I have seen them in Valencia."

Lara saw how Chancellor Cain's eyes went to Rudolf; "suspicion" was perhaps too strong a word, but the look was certainly probing. Lara's father, too, glanced sidelong at Rudolf as he asked the next question.

"There is no possibility that the presence of Doma-worshippers upon our soil has invited these _creatures_ into our land?"

"No, sire," Rudolf said without hesitation. "The creatures of Doma vanished with my parents' victory. There are no Bigles stalking Valencia."

"Up to recently, there were none in Archanea," was the reply. "We should dispatch a messenger to Valencia immediately to make sure nothing is amiss in your land. As to the situation in Archanea- what information do we have on these _Bigles_?"

-x-

Rudolf found himself put to work immediately, though it was clear he was viewed as more of a potential problem than a likely solution. His interrogator turned out to be Lord Merric, another of Rudolf's prospective in-laws. Merric was wed to the emperor's only sister, and like the princess Elice he held a position at the Academy of Magic in Pales. He seemed a gentle man, and his smile showed more warmth than Rudolf had yet seen from the rest of the family combined. Merric began the session with general questions about Valencia that seemed intended to put Rudolf at ease.

"Priests in your faith carry weapons? Forgive me; it's a hard concept for me to grasp. Priests and clerics of our land are sworn to harm none."

"We do have clerics who go unarmed, but they are of a different order than the priestly class to which my mother and I belong."

They spoke for several hours about the faith of the divine siblings before Merric got around to the specific topic of Bigles and other dark creatures. When dawn broke, both Rudolf's body and his store of knowledge were exhausted, and he hoped he'd been some help to Archanea.

**End Chapter Two**

* * *

Author's Notes: Thanks to penandpaper71, Asherien, and Trevor X for the encouragement!

OK. So zombies and other dark critters are flooding Archanea. The kids are going to be sent off to investigate, so things should get very weird, very soon.

Oh, yes. Regarding Marth- this was actually written before FE12, so don't expect any influence from THAT here. Marth isn't exactly sunshine and rainbows, but the difference between nineteen and thirty-nine is, er, considerable. In most cases. Look what twenty years did to Zephiel, fercryingout loud...


	3. The Accursed Tower

**When Mila Walked the Land**

Disclaimer: I do not own _Fire Emblem_ or any of its characters.

* * *

_Chapter Three: The Accursed Tower_

_Thabes, Year 628_

Lara was not surprised to be dispatched to Thabes, along with a contingent of knights and mages, to deal with this "dark creature" problem. Archanea's heiress needed to demonstrate her competency as a field commander, and what better way than by quelling this strange new threat? Nor was she surprised when her father insisted that Lord Rudolf be sent along as her expert on the subject matter of Lord Doma's creatures. She was quite familiar with her father's particular way of doing outwardly reasonable things with one or more ulterior motive beneath the surface.

So, as she and Rudolf were expected to get better acquainted with one another on the long trip to the northwestern desert, they talked. And Lara, for lack of anything better to talk about, filled Rudolf in where the details of the Archanean court were concerned.

"Chancellor Cain used to be the steward of Altea and leader of its army. My father trusts him above all men."

"I thought your uncle was your father's closest friend."

"If you tell Sir Cain a secret, he'll take it to his grave unspoken. Uncle Merric tells my aunt everything." Lara chewed at the inside of her cheek as she decided whether or not to say more on that point, then supplied some more information on Cain instead. "He was one of the greatest knights in the land, but he took a bad fall in a jousting match some years back and lost sight in one eye. After that, Father made him the Chancellor."

"He seems an honest man," Rudolf offered. He was always so pleasantly... _pleasant_... about everything!

"He is," Lara said, and was disappointed with herself when the words sounded curt.

Some miles later, Rudolf had a question for her.

"Have you ever been in combat before?"

"I went out with Commander Catria to fight bandits when I was fifteen. I managed to kill three of them by myself."

"I have never killed another. I've practiced often, of course, but I've never taken a life."

Lara bit her lip; she didn't really want to discuss her first battle in detail, but she did feel she needed to warn Rudolf.

"You'll feel sick afterwards."

He nodded and smiled, but Lara thought it might be a different sort of smile this time- like he was genuinely pleased that she'd been honest with him.

-x-

Thabes, Rudolf learned in the course of their journey, was a city shrouded in myths and mysteries.

"They call it the Illusion City, cursed by the darkness. A great sorcerer- the so-called King of Demons- once held court in its great tower."

"And this was centuries ago?"

"No. The Pontifex Gharnef was one of my father's enemies. Lord Merric put an end to him."

Rudolf thought of the soft-spoken, slightly frail man he'd met in Pales and tried to imagine Lord Merric in a battle.

"It was twenty years ago," Lara added. "I wasn't even born then. Since then, Father has taken pains to have the city made fit for humans to live in once more."

The road to Thabes took their party through the high desert, and the wind was bone-chilling once the sun went down. Rudolf pulled his mantle more tightly around himself as he sat near the fire, and he silently thanked his mother for sending along an ample supply of alpaca-wool clothing.

"Would you mind if I... if I told you something of my parents?" he asked his fiancee as she sat down on the opposite side of their firepit.

"Go ahead," she replied as she held her hands to the fire.

"There are many in Valencia who believe my mother to be the embodiment of the Earth Goddess."

"I think I've heard something to that effect," Lara muttered.

"She is kind, and wise, and gentle, and as gracious as Goddess Mila is supposed to be- but she is my mother. I could never believe myself to have been born of a goddess; it's a terrible enough idea that it used to keep me up at night."

Lara said nothing, but something in her eyes encouraged Rudolf to say more. Then again, she seemed at ease now, lips parted in something close to a smile.

"My father... men call him the Holy King, but he's not exactly what you might think of as a prince. He was raised in a common village, and so- well, he's very comfortable around people. He still has many friends from his old village. My mother was also raised as a commoner, but she was trained as a priestess, and so she's more formal about everything than Father is. Mother is warm and generous, though."

"As opposed to my father, who is a cold, unfeeling statue of a man." Lara's eyes flashed, as bright as icicles in the firelight.

"I didn't mean to imply-"

"You don't have to. I've heard what some of your entourage have been saying. I hear it, Catria hears it, Father knows about it. We're all a bunch of boring people who think of nothing but duty and don't know how to enjoy life."

Rudolf silently made a note that he really needed to lecture Rekkit about discretion. But Rekkit was unlikely to be the only indiscreet member of his party...

"I am sorry," he said, and conversation stalled for the remainder of the night. Rudolf was glad when they retired to their separate tents. Lara made no move to kiss him or show any other token of affection, and Rudolf was certain that he would be deemed out of order if he made any such demonstration of his own accord.

There was more than one reason to be cold in the desert, Rudolf thought, and he closed his eyes and tried to imagine the brilliant sunlight over Sofia Castle, the swaying trees and the beautiful flowers.

-x-

Lara had no time to dwell upon the quarrel with her fiance once they reached the Tower of Thabes. All present expected her to lead, and some stupid argument between two young people had no bearing on the problem of this creature infestation.

"They arrive every day in twos and threes, Your Highness," said the Captain of the Tower Guards. "Mostly it's th'... corpses, but sometimes they bring oth'r creatures along as well, what are more dangerous."

"How are your men holding out against them?"

"We've ta'en a few casualties, but none dead. Yet." One corner of his mouth twitched upward. "The eyeball creature, it uses some kind o' magic, and we weren't prepared for it."

Lara wanted to hear more, but even as she began her next question, a clamor arose in the upper tiers of the Tower.

"Aye, and they're back," sighed the Captain. "If I may lead Your Highness- _es_."

And there, on the stairs of the Tower where the Dark Pontifex once reigned, Lara took in the sight of her first dark creature. It was, or had been, human; it still wore tatters of clothing around its waist. But its skin was gray, its eyes showed no semblance of a soul, and each hand terminated in a vicious set of claws.

"_Zombi_," breathed Rudolf. Lara knew the word from Catria's tales of her adventures in the war against the Dark God.

Rudolf had a tome of fire magic at hand, but the moment was Lara's. It had to be. She drew her short sword rather than her rapier and pointed it to the heavens, then chanted a brief prayer to summon the storm-gods to her aid. A bolt of searing light arced upward from the sword's tip, then descended to strike the creature squarely on its chest. The _zombi_ flew apart in a spray of bone-fragments and crumbling, desiccated flesh.

It took all her will not to choke from the stench. But there was another behind it, shambling down the stairs with a rusted blade in one claw, and Rudolf sent a fireball at it. Lara stooped to collect the blade that fell from the creature's hand, but true to the tales of Piers, the weapon burned as though it, too, were only flesh or wood.

"Is that it?" she called upward, hoping for a response from the guards posted on the upper level. In response came a howl- no sound from the throat of a man, either. It sounded like a wolf. Lara felt her heart pound as she rushed up the stairs, short sword in hand and Rudolf behind her. There, she found yet another creature- the size and shape of a large dog, but with a lion's mane and lion's tail- gnawing upon the throat of a fallen guard.

The lightning and the fireball reached the dog-creature simultaneously, and it fell atop the body of the guard in a smoking heap. Rudolf went to the guard's side, to see if there was any chance of saving him. Another mauled guard lay on the floor in his own blood, and Lara would have tried to help the man if not for a _presence_ blocking the way.

It looked like a living shadow, a patch of nothingness, or not-quite nothingness, there between the ceiling and floor. The patch of shadow wavered and darkened as Lara watched; it truly looked like a rend or tear in the fabric of the air. As she kept looking, there did seem to be something else to it, some depth, some form...

"Look out!"

The dog seemed to come out of the nothingness, its front legs fully solid before its hind legs even existed. It dove at Lara, orange flames wreathing its open jaws, and snapped at her sword arm. There was no time to summon the thunder magic, and so Lara struck the beast as though Levin's holy sword were an ordinary weapon. The dog did not bleed when she hit it between the eyes, and Lara stepped back, wondering what under heaven she'd gotten herself into.

She didn't hear Rudolf chanting his fire spell, but she did see its welcome effects. The corpse of the dog fell at Lara's feet, and there it crumbled to cinder.

"Dear gods," breathed Lara. "Where are these fiends _coming_ from?"

"Be ready," said Rudolf, and she heard the deep shuddering exhalation that punctuated his words. "There's something more coming through the shadow."

"See if we can take this one alive," Lara said. She watched as the thing came through- a glimmer of steel, a glimmer of color, the heavy sound of an armored body landing on the stone floor in a tangle. It did not immediately stir.

"Sweet Mila! It's a woman."

Lara couldn't disagree with Rudolf. This one did seem to be a girl near to her own age. Her skin was pink and taut and unmarred, her long hair was shining, and overall she seemed very much human and quite alive. Once Lara had determined that this was not another of the undead, she took a moment to study the girl's clothing- a short red-and-white tunic like that of a pegasus rider, red boots that came up past the knee, and fine jewels that included ear-rings and a bracelet. She also carried a rapier similar in design to Lara's own. Lara was afraid the girl might have injured herself on her own weapon, but the stranger sat up and looked wildly around her.

"Seth? Seth!" the girl cried out. "Tana!"

"Are you all right, my lady?" asked Rudolf.

The girl simply stared at him, her large eyes growing larger still as she regarded him with what appeared to be shock. Rudolf repeated the question, and the girl shook her head at him. What came from her mouth next sounded like normal speech, but neither of them could understand it. Lara and Rudolf stared then at one another as the truth began to dawn on them.

"Rudolf." He said it while pointing to himself. Lara was able to follow his train of thought, and said her name aloud as she tapped her own chest in emphasis.

The foreign woman pointed then to herself.

"Eirika," she said.

**End Chapter Three**

* * *

Author's Notes: Yes, that's THE Eirika. Not to mention some Mauthe Doogs.

So, class-wise, Lara is a myrmidon with decent MAG stats inherited from her mother. So she can actually use the Levin Sword. Rudolf is a "priest" as found in FE2, able to use swords and magic... though Valencian magic, as we shall see, is a little different than the Archanean kind.


End file.
